In an operation starting Monday 19 September 2022, Heraklion police found a two-level plantation of 1,152 carefully tended cannabis plants up to 2.5 metres tall in rugged forest above the Savvathiana Monastery, and uprooted them.[1] A nearby fitted-out drying room held 27.5 kg of cannabis, and officers estimated the growers’ profits above two million euros.[1]

The growers had cut the monastery’s wire fence and built the plantation in the ravine above it, digging a pond, laying hoses, linking the levels with tunnels and escape exits, and camping on site.[1][2] They reached the plots posing as pilgrims and hung prayer ropes on the trees.[1][2] The monastery said it knew nothing of the plantation, and the drug squad’s preliminary inquiry continued.[1][2]